BuLLEE. — OrnilhoJogi/ of JS'ew Zealand. 2l7 



structure as tliey are siugular in their habits and economy; the JVofornis, a 

 giant brevi-pennate rail, allied to Forj)J/t/rio in the form of its bill, and 

 to Trihonyx in the structure of its feet ; the Stricjops, or ground parrot, 

 known as the kakapo, and resembling in some respects an owl ; the Nestor, 

 another remarkable parrot genus, of which four species inhabit New Zealand, 

 and a fifth, probably now extinct, recently existed on Phillip Island ; and the 

 beautiful huia {JELeteralodoa gotddi), confi.ned to the mountains, and restricted 

 in its range to narrow geographical limits — all of which will be more 

 particularly noticed in their more natural order. 



But, before proceeding further, it may be well to call the attention of 

 naturalists to a hitherto unnoticed fact of considerable interest in connection 

 with the geographical range or distribution of some of our birds. It consists 

 in this, that between several of the species of the North and South Islands 

 respectively there is a remarkable and very manifest representation. Thus, 

 the saddle-back {Oreadion caruncidatus) of the North is represented in the 

 South Island by C. cinereits, a closely allied species, but differing in the 

 colour of its plumage ; the weka {Ocydromios earli) is represented by a 

 smaller species (0, australis) so closely resembling it in appearance and 

 habits that they are called woodhens by the settlers of both islands, and by 

 them as well as by the natives are generally regarded as identical; the 

 popokatea {Ilohoua alhicilla) is represented by another species {M. ocliro- 

 cephala), differing in colour, but so closely allied to it that the natives apply 

 the same name to both; the toutouwai {Petroica longipes), to which 

 precisely the same remark applies, is represented by Petroica albifrons ; the 

 Callceas cinerea by another species, distinguished by the colour of its wattles ; 

 and Apteryx mantelli by its smaller congener, A. oiveni. 



A similar fact is noticed by Mr. Darwin (Voyage of Beagle) as occurring 

 in the Gralapagos Archipelago, where three different islands were found to 

 possess each a different species of Mimios, all closely related to one another, 

 but exclusively restricted to their respective islands. 



We shall now proceed to a closer but very rapid survey of our ornithology, 

 noticing the families in the order of their natural arrangement, and briefly 

 enumerating the species at present known. The birds of the Auckland 

 Islands do not appear to belong properly to the New Zealand fauna, and will 

 therefore be omitted. 



Fam. FalcojS'id^. — Probably among no section of birds has greater con- 

 fusion or uncertainty prevailed than among the Falconidce. The great 

 difference in size between the male and female, the progressive variation of 

 plumage to which they are subject before reaching maturity, and the 

 difficulty of procuring an adequate number of specimens for examination 

 and comparison, render it often very difficult to elucidate the species. Even. 

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